"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Spoken by FDR in the midst of the Great Depression. It was a time when people were desperate and depressed. They had no jobs. They had no homes. They had no food. Many became hobos and hopped trains to get out of their misery and move to a better place.

We are in another period of "fear". But this time, there is no FDR to encourage us not to fear. When and if the Democrats take the White House next January, they will not change the fear factor created by these sick and cowardly paranoiacs within the Republican Party and the present White House. We hope it will all change but it will not. The Republicans will continue to control the agenda with their campaign of fear and terrorism.

They will determine what is spent on the Defense budget. They will determine the parameters to define our "enemies". They will determine what is spent on social needs. Because the Democrats will not disagree with the agenda of right-wing neo-cons and we will maintain the status quo, to a large degree, within our foreign policy.

We would like to think that everything will change for the better and someone will stand up and say, "we have nothing to fear but fear itself", but it is not going to happen. The fear has over-ridden everything, including our laws and Constitution and any semblace of common sense that may have been left after 9/11.

I hate to burst your bubble of optimism. But there are not going to be any great changes from what we are now experiencing. The threats will continue to be blown out of proportion and the Republicans will continue to promote their paranoia, as if that alone will make us more safe? And the Democrats, as magnified by their FISA vote yesterday, will continue to shrivel before their fear-mongering.

I was hoping that there would be investigations and the truth be found. However, that is unlikely to happen. I was hoping for great changes in our domestic and foreign policies. I have doubts that anything will change with either. The vote yesterday made me very pessimistic about the future. Because I do not see the capacity for greatness that we will need to overcome this scourge that has
overwhelmed our nation and our Congress.